Jacksonville family intends to sue Duval schools over son's suicide

Wednesday

Aug 15, 2012 at 2:38 PM

Topher Sanders

A Jacksonville family intends to sue Duval County Public Schools over the suicide of their 15-year-old son.

David Githiiyu was a 10th-grader at Robert E. Lee High School when he took his own life in January 2011 after being bullied in the presence of other students, teachers and administrators, according to a letter from his parents' attorneys.

His mother, Elizabeth Githiiyu, and his father, Ayub Njoroge, claim that Lee High's employees failed to follow state law to protect their son. A 2008 state law requires school systems to immediately investigate every allegation of bullying and notify parents of both the victim and the accused bully. The district changed the language of its policy manual and student code of conduct to reflect the law in November 2008, as did many districts throughout the state.

The family cannot file the suit until six months after the notification, which would be in February.

Read the notice of intent to sue (opens on scribd.com)

See more photos from the news conference with Githiiyu's family

Jacksonville General Counsel Cindy Laquidara, who was also notified of the potential suit, said her office would not be commenting on the intent letter, which they hadn't had a chance to review yet. Laquidara's office serves as the school system's attorney.

The parents said David was bullied "relentlessly" because of his Kenyan background, small size and last name. They spoke Wednesday flanked by their attorneys with the Alford Law Group.

"I don't want any parent to go through this," Elizabeth Githiiyu said. "It's so painful, it's so painful and my life has changed."

She said the boy killed himself after a Lee coach wouldn't let him onto a bus for a field trip to visit the University of Central Florida.

"If he would have opened that door for my son, my son would be alive right now."

Read: 1 in 8 Jacksonville high school students have attempted suicide

She said students who had excelled at academics were selected for the trip and David was really excited. She said students were to be seated on the bus by 7 a.m., but she and David arrived at 7 a.m.

Students and teachers were aware that the boy was outside of the bus asking to be let in, even knocking on the door, but the bus driver drove away, the letter states.

Githiiyu said she attempted to follow the bus in her car, but her son was already in tears due to being left.

She took him home and then went to run errands. When she returned David had hanged himself in his closet with a belt.

The family learned from some of his classmates after his death that their son had been bullied for his name and being Kenyan more frequently than the one or two incidents they knew of.

He had asked his teachers to only refer to him as David because they would often mispronounce his last name, causing his classmates to laugh at him. Despite his request, the teachers continued to attempt and mispronounce his name.

"They helped promote the bullying because they could prevent him to be bullied by the other kids if they call him the right name," his mother said.

He frequently told his parents he wanted to transfer from Lee to Stanton College Preparatory School or Paxon School for Advanced Studies, his parents said.

David had been a student in Duval since the family moved from Kenya when he was 5 years old.

The family is suing for the value of "loss support and services" from the date of his death, mental pain, suffering and medical and funeral expenses. The family's attorneys said a financial number has not been determined for the suit.

January and June releases of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that one in eight Jacksonville high school students have attempted suicide, a rate that exceeds attempts in cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Detroit.

topher.sanders@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4169

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